


You Bare Your Fangs Or You Bare Your Throat

by Zamora



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: F/M, kidnapped by a rival villain, please do not copy to another site, the vampire au nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22234828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zamora/pseuds/Zamora
Summary: *** ON HIATUS ***When Roxanne wakes up to find that she's been kidnapped yet again, it doesn't come as much of a surprise. It's essentially another normal Tuesday.What does come as a surprise is that Megamind wasn't the one who kidnapped her, and even more shocking than that, is the fact that whoever got the jump on her also managed to get the jump on him.It's hard to be particularly worried about your situation when you're stuck with a genius super-villain who wants his freedom as much as you do.It's much harder to avoid a mental meltdown when you learn that you've been locked in a cage with avampire.A vampire who's only going to get hungrier with each passing day.
Relationships: Megamind/Roxanne Ritchi
Comments: 95
Kudos: 219





	1. Caged

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not dead! And I promise I haven't abandoned my other WIP's, but my muse was enthralled by the thought of a vampire AU so here we are! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

The haze of unconsciousness drifted away slowly, like fog drifting down from a mountaintop. Unfortunately, with wakefulness also came pain. Roxane let out a soft groan as she reached for her head, wishing that she could stop the incessant pounding against the back of her skull, and knowing that nothing but a bottle of Tylenol could help her at this point. 

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Miss Ritchi." The rumbling, deep voice that filled the room pulled another long-suffering groan from her. 

"What did you use on me?" She muttered, her tongue thick in her mouth as she silently cursed her frequent kidnapper. She didn’t mind the interruptions to her daily life so much, she could tolerate those even on her off days at the very least. It was when those kidnappings had lingering side effects that she tended to get snappy. "I haven't had a headache like this since the second kidnapping." She grumbled, slowly forcing herself to blink in the bright fluorescent lights, which seemed odd, she knew that Megamind preferred to keep the lair dark. 

"I didn't use anything on you." The supervillains voice supplied pointedly, trailing off into a long sigh before continuing; "Though if I had to guess, I'd say our captor probably used uncut chloroform." 

Roxanne scrunched up her face at his words, forcing herself to sit up as she rubbed at her eyes. "Our captor?" She questioned drowsily, swallowing down the nausea that welled up at the movement. "What do you mean our-" She trailed off abruptly as she finally took in her surroundings. 

She was locked in a massive glass box. Bright light flooded down from the roof, even though the fixtures were affixed somewhere above the roof of the cage; and beyond the four glistening walls, the room fell away into total darkness.

"What is this?" She questioned a moment later, her eyes drifting to the corner at her right and settling on Megamind, shocked to find him without his cape, mantle, gloves, or even any shoes. 

At least she was shocked until she looked down to find that she'd been stripped of her own shoes and jacket. 

The longer she took in the room, the more she noticed that it was entirely empty; save for the person standing in it with her, a crumpled-up blanket that she'd apparently been using as a pillow when she was unconscious on the concrete floor, and a toilet tucked into the far corner that was disturbingly open to the rest of the room. 

"Nothing good," Megamind answered a moment later, drawing her gaze back over to him as he turned towards one of the walls and tapped lightly against it. A hollow sound reverberating through the room with each rap of his knuckles. "A rival most likely." He added simply a few seconds later, pursing his lips into a thin line as he glanced around their enclosure.

"If that's the case then why am I here?" Roxanne questioned, kneading at the muscles on the back of her neck in a futile attempt to quell some of the pain as she shot her frequent kidnapper a sharp glare. 

"You think I would lock myself in a cage?" Megamind questioned in response, lifting his eyebrows as he gave her a pointed look. "I've been locked in cages enough for one lifetime, thank you very much." He muttered a moment later, shaking his large head as he turned back towards the inky expanse surrounding them. 

Roxanne blew out a long breath and grit her teeth as she managed to clamber to her feet on unsteady legs, bracing her weight against one of the glass walls as her equilibrium caught up to the movement. 

A second later the rest of the room lit up, harsh fluorescent light flooding the space and illuminating what looked like a vast, empty warehouse. A door several yards away swung open on creaky hinges shortly afterward, and a woman with short, spiky blonde hair sauntered in. 

"Welcome back to the land of the living you two!" Her bright voice echoed against the warehouses' walls and reverberated through their glass enclosure. Roxanne winced at the sound, her headache ringing against her skull with each syllable. 

"Cheap imitator," Megamind growled softly as she approached, his hands tightening into fists as he shot a glare at the woman as though looks could kill.

Roxanne blinked in the harshness of the added light, her eyes adjusting as the woman drew closer before coming to a stop just beyond the glass barrier. Tight leather leggings and a skimpy black top clung to her skin, dark eyeliner and bright red lipstick painted her face, and a twisting tribal dragon tattoo spiraled up her arm. As much as Roxanne wanted to wish that Megamind’s hypotheses had been incorrect, she’d spent enough time around supervillains to recognize a wannabe. 

"I hope you're enjoying the accommodations. You'll be here for a while.” She offered, her tone deceivingly warm as she smiled at Megamind before her gaze drifted over to Roxanne, her smile growing more predatory almost immediately. "Well, _you'll_ probably make it three days max before he loses it and kills you,” she continued nonchalantly before quickly turning her sights back on Megamind, “but you, my friend, should settle in." She finished, her smile settling into a smirk as Roxanne took a moment to process her words. 

"What?" She breathed, her eyebrows pursing together as their captor glanced back over at her. Roxanne slowly twisted to glance at Megamind’s stiff form as she muttered a quiet, "Why would he…" she trailed off before she could finish. Swallowing thickly and shaking her head slightly in a futile attempt to clear it before she uttered a certain; "Megamind isn't going to hurt me."

A bright smile blossomed over the woman's face at her words, her eyes lighting up as she glanced between the two of them before all but crowing, "She doesn't know!" 

Roxanne glanced between her captor and the super-villain standing stiffly beside her as she demanded; "What don't I know?" 

Megamind glanced over at her as she spoke, his mouth pressing into a thin line as something oddly hesitant pulled at his features. She didn’t have long to ponder over the expression before their captor burst into laughter, the sound ringing against the walls as Roxanne winced at the booming sound. 

It took a few minutes for the woman to compose herself, wiping away an imaginary tear before she gave Megamind a feral smile. "Have fun with that one buddy." She offered snidely, patting the glass in front of Megamind lightly before quickly turning away and sauntering back towards the door she came from. She pulled it open on squeaky hinges before disappearing behind it a second before the lights beyond their cage died once again.

Neither of them moved for a few moments after that, and as the thick silence lapsed on, Roxanne forced herself to glance over at her frequent kidnapper. "Am I missing something here?" She breathed, pulling Megamind’s attention over to her for a second as his emerald green eyes met hers.

He swallowed thickly at the question, offering her a light shrug that contradicted the tight set of his shoulders and the dark note lingering in his voice as he offered a simple; "Surely you've heard the rumors." 

Roxanne scoffed at the statement, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and shot the blue man a glower. "I'm a reporter. I hear a lot of rumors,” Roxanne muttered grimly. 

Megamind huffed out a breath at her words, lifting his eyebrows and staring her down for a long moment before it all clicked into place.

Roxanne scoffed at the silent implication, shaking her head as she managed an exasperated; "Oh my God, are you talking about that vampire bullshit?" The expression Megamind wore hardened at her words and she knew that she’d hit the nail on the head. "Come on,” She groaned as she let her arms flop down to her sides. “ _Nobody_ believes that stuff.”

Megamind swallowed at her words, his eyes drifting down to the barren concrete floor before he turned away and started towards the adjacent wall. When he spoke up, his voice was so soft that Roxanne almost didn’t hear the four little words; "The rumors are true."

The first thing that registered was disbelief. 

Vampires didn’t exist. 

Rumors were just rumors. 

It was the slow, defeated slumping of Megamind's shoulders that made something cold and heavy settle in her stomach. 

"What?" Roxanne breathed, her eyebrows pulling together as she stepped closer to him.

"Not all of them, obviously,” Megamind muttered, his voice small. He swallowed thickly before he continued, “Some of them are wildly misconstrued. But…” He trailed off with a soft sigh before whispering; “I am essentially a vampire." 

Another wave of skepticism came at the admittance, because honestly, there was just no way that the Megamind she’d gotten to know bits and pieces of over the years could possibly be a _vampire_. 

"I see you go out in the sunlight all the time…" Roxanne muttered to herself as she shook her head, drawing a confused look from Megamind as he turned to face her. 

"Miss Ritchi,” Megamind murmured as he took a small, subtle step towards her. 

"And it doesn't hurt you, and you damn well don't fucking sparkle,” Roxanne continued, her gaze focused on icy the floor underfoot.

"Miss Ritchi.” Megamind’s voice was more insistent the second time he spoke her name, but she was too stunned to really register the sound. 

"And isn't that a major thing with vampires, the -” 

"Roxanne,” Megamind’s firm voice finally drew her out of her stupor, her eyes flicking up to meet his as she swallowed at the use of her first name. Megamind _never_ called her Roxanne. "Human folklore about vampires existed ages before I was born. I'm not…" He trailed off with a sigh, drumming his fingers against his thigh before he finally found his words again. "It's not like I walked out of a movie. I just… have very specific dietary requirements, and those requirements happen to be blood." He explained softly, swallowing and glancing away from her the second the words left his mouth. 

Roxanne drew in a shaky breath at his words, something in the back of her mind registering the fact that she should definitely be panicking by now. However, instead of cowering in the corner like her better judgment told her to, she stepped closer to the super-villain, drawing his gaze back up from the floor as his eyes settled on her face. Before she could think better of it, she lifted a hand, resting it on his jaw and pulling his lower lip down as she took a good look at his _very human_ teeth. "You don't have fangs." She deadpanned a moment later, and Megamind let out another rough sigh as he lifted a hand and pushed her arm aside, his skin unnaturally cool against her own.

"These are caps.” He mumbled as he took a small step back, lengthening the distance between them. 

"Caps?" Roxanne parroted, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion as she stared him down. Megamind let out another rough breath at the word, opening his mouth as lifting an arm before quickly removing a white piece of plastic from his mouth with a soft clicking noise, holding the molded plastic between his fingers for her to see.

"They hide my real teeth." The explanation was simple, but despite that, Roxanne still found herself having a hard time trying to wrap her head around it all. 

"Why would you hide your real teeth?" She questioned with a slight shake of her head.

"Because I hate my real teeth.” The words were all but hissed, Megamind’s face contorting as he spoke. “The more I can blend in with you humans the better." His next statement was quieter, more resentful. 

Roxanne swallowed at his tone as she took another quick step towards him, lifting her hand to pull back his lower lip once more, but he shied away before she could get close enough.

She huffed out a rough breath and shot him a glare before grounding out a harsh; "Stop that!"

"No!” Megamind shouted, shaking his head as he took a few more swift steps away from her. “You stop trying to prod around in my mouth, you're not my dentist."

Roxanne pursed her lips at the statement shaking her head roughly as she pointed a finger at him. "I think I have a right to see what I'm dealing with if I'm gonna get chomped here!" 

"You aren't going to get chomped!" Megamind ground out in response, lifting his hand and popping the white strip of plastic back in his mouth before biting down on it as it settled into place with a soft clicking sound. "I am going to figure a way out of this." He muttered, turning to face the darkness beyond their cage in one swift movement. 

"And if you don't?" Roxanne demanded, crossing her arms over her chest once more.

Megamind whirled back around to face her at the question, throwing his arms up into the air at his sides before loudly declaring; "Guess I'll die then!" 

"Why are you so melodramatic?" Roxanne groaned, her shoulders falling as her arms drifted loosely back to her sides. 

"It's a supervillain thing!" Megamind shot back, irritability pulling at the set of his shoulders as he started pacing back and forth in front of the wall of their cage.

A few moments passed with nothing but the sound of his bare feet against the concrete before the absurdity of it all came crashing down around her and she found herself letting out a soft chuckle that quickly morphed into a full-fledged laugh. "And a vampire thing…" Roxanne spluttered between bouts of laughter, the half-crazed sound ringing against the glass walls of their prison. 

One moment Megamind was halfway across their enclosure, the next he was standing so close that their chests were practically brushing. "Haha. Very funny." The words were tense, his mouth pressed into a thin line that all but screamed that he hardly found the quip as amusing as she did. 

Roxanne managed to swallow down her laughter a moment later, tilting her head back ever so slightly so she could meet his eyes. 

She'd heard plenty of rumors about Megamind being a vampire, and though she'd always brushed them off as people being paranoid, now she couldn't help but wonder which ones were actually true. Like the one that his eyes changed color depending on how long he'd gone without a meal. Because right now his eyes weren't the blazing neon green she was accustomed to, but rather a dark, glistening emerald color. 

Roxanne drew in a shuddering breath as the mood sobered, blurting the question on her mind before she lost her nerve; "When was the last time you ate?" 

The silence that followed the question was a cavernous, lingering thing. And when Megamind finally answered, she could barely hear the single word he breathed; "Yesterday."

Roxanne nodded slightly at the word, drawing in a breath before following up; "And how often do you _need_ to eat?"

Megamind paused at the query, tilting his head slightly to the side before pointedly questioning; "How often do I need to eat before I starve to death? Or how often do I need to eat before I get hangry?" 

"Both?" Roxanne hedged a second later, silently dreading the answer that was coming. 

"A little more than a week without food would do me in, I'm afraid." He answered, his tone unnervingly blasé as he discussed something as monumental as death. "And as far as hunger irritability goes…" Megamind trailed off, letting out a long huff of breath as he turned away and stalked back over to one of the glass walls. "Give me a few hours and I'll be there." 

She swallowed at the quietly muttered words, whispering a soft, “That’s not particularly reassuring.” 

She startled slightly when he let out a rumbling hum in agreement. She'd honestly thought that he wouldn't be able to hear her considering the distance between them. 

Roxanne watched in silence as Megamind tapped lightly against the glass with a fingertip, the sound ringing hollowly in the empty space. “They designed this well," Megamind sighed, something resigned in his tone. "It’s some kind of hardened epoxy. Ridiculously strong stuff.” He continued, huffing out a breath as his eyes scanned the edges of the glass, taking in the metal trim and silicone holding it all together. 

A short lapse of quiet filled the air before Megamind huffed out a shell of a laugh before twisting to look at her over his shoulder. “Where’s your boyfriend in tights when I need him?”

Roxanne froze at the question, part of her wanting to defend that Wayne wasn't her boyfriend, and the other part scolding herself for not thinking of him sooner. She lifted her hands to her mouth before drawing in a deep breath and shouting; “Wayne!” 

Her voice reverberated against the glass, echoing back into the chamber loudly enough to make her ears ring. Which was something that seemed to affect Megamind as well, judging by the way he flinched at the noise. 

As soon as the sound finally rang into silence Roxanne drew in another breath, only to be stopped when Megamind lifted a slender blue hand in her direction. “There’s no point in that.” He muttered, shaking his head as his hand fell back down to his side. “This was clearly well thought out. My guess is that we’re deep enough underground that he can’t hear us.” The words were soft as he slowly paced along the length of the wall before drifting to a stop.

Quiet filled the air for a moment before he curiously added; “I will say, the cameras are certainly an odd touch.”

Roxanne stiffened at his words, her eyes scanning the inky darkness surrounding their cage. It was one thing being locked in a cage alone with Megamind. It was another thing knowing that someone was watching everything that was happening, possibly hearing everything that was being said. 

“Cameras?” Roxanne echoed, walking up to his side as she peered out into the warehouse around them. 

Megamind stepped closer when she finally came to a stop, pointing towards the nearest corner as Roxanne finally caught the slight glint of a lens peeking out from the darkness.

“There, there, and there.” He muttered, pointing at two other corners of the box. And Roxanne silently noted that the only space a camera wasn't really watching was the toilet. “Could be for surveillance. Could be for broadcasting," Megamind murmured, his hand falling back down to his side as he seemed to map out the camera's angles in his mind. 

"Broadcasting?" She swallowed as soon as the word tumbled from her lips. Sure, she was used to being on television, and she was used to Megamind always hijacking public signals to showcase his plots; but at least when she was at work, and when Megamind was the one running the plot, she knew when she was on TV. It was unnerving to think that someone could be watching at any moment without her knowledge, that they could be showing other people without her knowledge.

“You would be surprised by the number of times other criminals have attempted to _de-throne_ me," Megamind responded nonchalantly, shrugging lightly as he finished; “Most of them like to get quite public about it.”

Roxanne was well aware of the handful of times another villain had tried to take on Megamind, his rivals plots tended to fall apart quite quickly, she could only hope that this one would be the same as all the others. "You think this is about you, not Wayne or someone else?" She questioned a moment later, giving him a sidelong glance as she spoke. 

"If this were about Metro Mahn then why would I be here?" Megamind answered with a question of his own. "If they wanted to get to him they'd only need you." 

Roxanne shook her head at the statement. The words, _he's not my boyfriend_ , echoing in her head. "My headache is too bad for this right now," Roxanne mumbled instead, shaking her head slightly as she numbly made her way over to the opposite wall where the blanket lay crumpled up. 

She pressed her back against the wall and then slid down to the floor, gathering the blanket up in her hands and wrapping it around her legs as she stared blankly at the concrete floor underfoot. The soft sound of Megamind's feet against the floor was like the slow ticking of a clock's hands counting away the seconds. A soft, steady sound that helped her zone out. 

It wasn't until Megamind came to a stop, pressed his back against the opposite wall and slid down to sit on the floor that she was finally pulled from the nothingness in her mind. 

"Fuck." The word was soft, and Roxanne was certain that if Megamind was sitting any further away, that she wouldn't have heard it at all. 

"Never heard you say that before," Roxanne murmured, pulling Megaminds gaze down from the roof as his dark eyes met hers. 

He didn't respond to the statement, shaking his head softly as he muttered; "This is definitely being broadcast." He let out a sigh as the words died, huffing out a hollow laugh as he continued; "They're going to either overthrow me by turning the public against me, or they're just going to let me starve to death." 

Roxanne swallowed at his words, concern tainting her voice as she managed a simple; "What?" 

The empty huff of laughter gained a bit of strength as he ground out a bitter; "Fucking genius." 

Roxanne leaned forward at the sudden change in his demeanor, worry gnawing at the back of her mind. "Would you just explain whatever is going on in that head of yours?" She pressed a second later, gaining his attention as the full weight of his gaze settled on her and stayed there. 

"You're a beloved member of the city. If anything happened to you, people would be devastated. Outraged." He stated simply, his voice impartial in a way that told her he was picking the situation apart from an outside perspective. 

"So what?" Roxanne questioned, shaking her head as she pursed her eyebrows together. 

"So why do you think they locked us in a box together?" 

Roxanne managed a shell of a smile at the question, hoping she could lighten the heavy atmosphere in the room as she spoke; "So I can annoy you to death for them?"

A barely-there smile quirked the corner of his mouth at her words. A moment of silence lapsing on before he spoke; "Judging by my internal clock, dinner time is going to roll around in the next hour or so." 

The sudden change of topic admittedly caught her a little off guard, but she was happy for the distraction if nothing else. Besides, she was practically starving. "Thank God," Roxanne groaned letting her head fall back against the wall behind her. 

"They'll bring you food," Megamind stated certainly, his voice darkening significantly as he continued; "But I won't be so lucky."

Roxanne pulled her head up at the words, her eyes meeting his for a long moment before his dark voice filled the air. "As far as their concerned, they've already provided me with a meal." 

His eyes flicked across her form as the full weight of his words settled in, heavy and suffocating. 

The people who locked her up were trying to kill her.

They were trying to force Megamind to kill her. 

And if the two of them didn't find a way out of this prison soon, the likely hood of their captors plan turning out a success would only grow. 

Roxanne swallowed thickly at the realization, pulling her knees tighter against her chest, hoping the scratchy blanket wrapped around her would help stave off the sudden chill. 

"I don't want to die." The words were small, fragile; her tongue too thick in her mouth as she spoke them. 

Megamind swallowed thickly at the statement, the sound loud in the silence. "You aren't going to die." His words were soft, and resigned; something sad lurking in the shadows of his eyes as he stared at her in silence for a long moment. 

His next words were barely even audible.

"I'm going to."


	2. Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it has been entirely too long.
> 
> Forgive me for the creative lapse, but with all the chaos in the world this year, I honestly haven't had it in me to do much of anything creative.
> 
> To everyone who left a comment on the previous chapter, thank you so much! I hope I can find the time at some point tomorrow to respond to them all!

At some point in the last hour, Roxanne had nodded off, the fog in her head from the low-grade drugs making her want to sleep if for no other reason than to escape the headache they brought on. Besides, Megamind had grown annoyingly silent as soon as she started to protest his brilliant plan, or rather lack thereof. So really, it wasn't as though she'd had anything better to do. 

Though apparently, he'd decided to stop ignoring her. At least that was the conclusion her sleep-riddled mind supplied as she grumbled and batted aside the persistent hand that was jostling her awake. 

However, as soon as she started to blink in the harsh fluorescent lights, an entirely unfamiliar voice was filling the air.

"Mornin' sleeping beauty." The raspy, deep greeting had her bolting to her feet in record time, which wasn't a particularly good thing, considering the way she nearly fell over the moment she was standing. A wiry set of arms steadied her before she could fall over, and she instinctively tried to pry them away before a much softer, smoother voice complained.

"Must you always struggle so much?"

She calmed down at the question, or rather at the fact that it was Megamind's voice asking it. It took another moment for her brain to catch up to the present situation at hand, her eyes settling on Megamind where he stood beside her, his hand retracting the moment she finally managed to find her balance. 

"You hungry?" The rough, strange voice questioned a half-second later, pulling her attention to the right. A plaid and denim-clad man she'd never met stood on the other side of their cage, a water bottle in one hand and a sandwich laden plate in the other. As the seconds ticked by without a response, he lifted a single, unamused eyebrow.

She was hungry, but that wasn't the first thing that registered in her mind. In fact, the only thing clouding her mind the second the stranger's words faded was a savage swell of fiery rage. 

"You sociopathic assholes," Roxanne grit out through clenched teeth as she stalked towards the man, pressing her hands against the smooth, cool wall that was keeping her from clawing his eyes out. 

He smirked at the insult, his eyes glittering behind his thick aviator glasses as he clicked his tongue at her and shook his head. "Temper, temper." He admonished playfully, and if nothing else, the way he was treating this whole situation like it was some sort of game made Roxanne want to rip his throat out before Megamind could take that satisfaction from her. 

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Roxanne growled, flinging one of her arms out behind her as she immediately continued her furious tirade, "Hiding behind your walls because you're too much of a fucking coward to take him on." 

All hints of the smirk plastered on his face disappeared at her words; his expression quickly replaced with a glower as his mouth pressed into a thin line.

Roxanne plastered a venomous smile on her face before offering a simple, "Not much of a man, are you?" Every word dripped with a false sense of that sickly sweetness she'd mastered so well during her time as a reporter. 

The stranger slammed his hand against the epoxy the second she finished speaking, the wall vibrating with the force of the impact as she instinctively flinched away from the sudden blow that it had saved her from. 

"You'd better watch your fucking mouth, you bitch." The rough snarl was grit out through clenched teeth, a murderous scowl etched into the man's face. 

The cruel expression didn't remain in place for long; because a half-second after the words, _you bitch_ , left the man's lips, Megamind was colliding into the wall beside her with enough force to make the whole cage shake and creak. " _Don't._ " The single word was snarled, laced with enough malice to barely even come out as a word.

The stranger recoiled from the sudden threat, stumbling back and nearly tripping over his own feet in the process as Megamind all but growled a low, threatening; " _You_ don't speak _to her_ like _that_." 

Roxanne had seen Megamind in the middle of more evil plots than she could count. She'd been on the receiving end of a nearly endless amount of his _'threats'_ should Wayne show up late.

_(Even though there had been plenty of times that Wayne showed up late, and he hadn't detonated the rocket she was tied to, or hit the on-switch to the sawmill she was strapped to, or lowered her into the tank full of piranhas that she was dangling over.)_

_(Even though most of the times Wayne showed up late, he would untie her hands so they could play cards, or let Minion dote over her with freshly baked pastries and tea, or just sit there huffing for a bit before he gave it up and asked her how her week had been going.)_

Roxanne had seen him angry before, or at least she thought that she had, but now she couldn't help but wonder if she'd really only ever seen him annoyed because she'd _never_ seen him like this before.

She'd never seen him look like he actually _wanted_ to hurt someone before. 

It took a second for the stranger to finally get his wits about him, a smirk that was honestly too warbly to be genuine pulled at the corner of his mouth as he took a step closer to them. "Or what?" He demanded, a barely-there hint of a waver lingering in his voice as he spoke. 

In the back of her mind, Roxanne wondered if the dark glee she felt at the realization that the man was legitimately scared of Megamind was wrong of her. 

"You gonna eat me, you fucking animal?" The man spat, fear quickly lending itself to anger. 

Megamind offered a wicked smile at the question, the tip of his tongue skimming over the rim of his upper teeth before they snapped together with a harsh click. A half-second later, his smile widened into a full-on toothy grin that Roxanne could only imagine would be twice as intimidating if his real teeth were on display. 

"Don't tempt me," Megamind threatened, his voice laden with an undertone of darkness that she'd never heard from him before. 

The stranger's expression faltered slightly at the response, his throat bobbing as he swallowed and took a slight step away from their cage. As much as the reaction only continued to fuel her own sense of dark satisfaction, it also made her wonder what she was missing. 

This man was safely tucked away on the other side of a cage that could probably hold _a grizzly_ , and he was still scared.

Which was honestly beginning to unnerve her; because really, as far as she could tell, the only difference in their situations was that Megamind _wanted_ to hurt him, and he _didn't want_ to hurt her. 

But how long would that last? She'd known him for eight years, and she knew that self-control wasn't exactly one of his strong suits. How long could he go without food until the thought of hurting her was actually tempting?

Unless maybe she could keep him from getting that hungry in the first place.

"You know I don't have to feed you." The stranger ground out, immediately pulling Roxanne's train of thought back to the man standing on the other side of their cage. "I can let you starve in there too." He threatened, a small, sinister smile tugging at the corner of his lips before he added a snarky; "It might be fun to watch you both go after each other's throats." 

Roxanne swallowed at the statement. Part of her was deeply unsettled at his words, and another part was annoyed over the small fact that he was accomplishing precisely what he wanted; getting under her skin and trying to shake the faith she had in her fellow captive. 

"If I starve to death, that's not much fun for the camera's though, is it?" Roxanne retorted, crossing her arms over her chest as she arched an eyebrow. 

The man's smirk faded at her question, his mouth pressing into a thin line before he offered a bland yet cutting; " _You'll_ have to miss more than one meal to starve." His eyes roamed over her as he spoke, and the simple gesture made her feel far too exposed despite being fully clothed. It was enough to distract her from the insult about her weight. Or it had been, until he lifted the sandwich that was supposed to be her dinner to his mouth and took a hearty bite out of it. 

He chewed loudly, staring her in the eyes as he lifted his arm and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his flannel. He didn't even bother swallowing before opening his mouth and offering an indifferent, "Pretty good." The words were accompanied with a shrug as he started towards the warehouse door without sparing another glance their way.

Roxanne didn't bother to tamp down the molten anger that boiled inside her as he continued towards the door. Her arms drifting back down to her sides as she took a few quick steps in the direction that the stranger was heading before the barrier of her enclosure inevitably made her stop. 

"Asswipe!" Roxanne shouted after him, her voice ringing against the walls of their cage and echoing against the warehouse's concrete walls. The stranger didn't even slow or glance behind him at the insult, simply tucking the water bottle in his hand between the crook of his arm and his body before lifting said hand and flipping her off.

Before Roxanne had the chance to retort with another shouted insult, the stranger was yanking the warehouse door open and disappearing behind it before it closed with a heavy, metallic thunk. 

A few seconds after the sound finished echoing through the empty space, the lights beyond their enclosure flickered out. Leaving them in the spotlight beaming down into their cage as darkness shrouded around them from all sides. 

It wasn't until Roxanne let out a frustrated groan and ran a hand through her hair roughly as she turned back around that Megamind finally spoke up, his voice far more defeated than she'd expected it to be; "You should try to hold your tongue around them."

"He's a dick. He deserves to know it," Roxanne replied dryly, shooting him a hint of a glare despite her best attempts to keep her wrath from being wrongfully directed towards him. 

Megamind lifted a single eyebrow at her words, his dark green eyes staring her down for a long moment before the corner of his mouth finally quirked up in the beginnings of a smirk. "Most villains don't appreciate a mouthy hostage as much as I do, Miss Ritchi." He offered softly, his voice tinged with something that sounded suspiciously like affection. 

A half-second after the words faded, his eyes flicked over to the space where the warehouse door stood in the darkness, beyond the confines of their cage. "That henchman's not going to let you speak to him like that and still feed you," Megamind's next words were far colder, factual and calculating. 

"The next time you're given the opportunity to eat, you should take it." He stated, his eyes flicking back to meet hers for a long moment before he added a quiet, almost mournful; "There's no point in us both being hungry." 

The not-so-subtle reminder that Megamind was a hungry _vampire_ immediately pulled her back to the train of thought she'd been abruptly ripped from earlier. His self-control had never been great, and she doubted that it would improve as his hunger worsened, and that would only spell disaster for her.

In all honesty, it would be in her best interests to make sure that he didn't get hungry enough to let his already tenuous grip on his self-control slip. And, well, she was capable of fixing that whole problem herself, wasn't she?

Roxanne swallowed down the sour curdle of nervousness that thought immediately dredged up. She drew in a long breath as she did her best to steel herself for the answer that was sure to follow the question she was about to ask.

"How much do you need to eat?" The words came out quieter than she would have liked, but at least her voice didn't waver. A small mercy.

She watched as Megamind immediately stiffened at the question, the line of his shoulders drawing tight before a tick formed in his jaw. His eyebrows crinkled together a half-second later, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized her for a long moment. Long enough that she fought back the urge to fidget as the silence drew on. 

"Why do you ask?" He answered with a question of his own, each word laden with suspicion, and if she didn't know any better, dread.

She knew that he didn't really need her to answer that. He clearly already knew exactly why she was asking. And although she may have offered some snide, sarcastic response stating just that if they were under different circumstances - circumstances where the stakes weren't life or death - she found that she couldn't summon that sort of response at the moment. This wasn't the typical light banter they shared during kidnappings; this was darker, and heavier, and charged with something she couldn't quite place her finger on. It sucked away any thoughts of even trying to make light of the situation, or the topic, at hand.

"Because," Roxanne began, fidgeting with her hands as she laced and unlaced her fingers, trying to do something to keep her mind off of the way her heart seemed to be skipping every other beat and the way her lungs suddenly felt too empty to speak. "If you only need a cup a day then I don't get why we couldn't just-"

"Not another word, Miss Ritchi," Megamind snapped before she could finish, the harsh, angry sound nearly making her jump. For a second or two she was frozen, completely blindsided by the sudden, irritated response. But as soon as the surprise wore off, she found her anger bubbling back to life with a renewed heat behind it.

"You didn't even let me finish!" Roxanne countered, all of her prior trepidation easily giving way to irritation as she shot him one of her best glares. 

"You didn't need to finish," Megamind ground out, sending a nearly murderous scowl her way as he furiously added, "The answer is _no_." 

Roxanne let out an exasperated sigh at his words, rolling her eyes as she silently wished that he would stop being so stubborn for five seconds. It wasn't like his decision to turn away food would only put him at risk. Why didn't he see that?

"Why is the answer no?" Roxanne demanded, exasperation leaking into every word as she spoke. If Megamind was going to go risking both of their lives, then she damn well deserved to know why, especially if the solution to it all was as simple as giving up a cup or two of blood every other day or so. 

" _Several_ reasons." He answered a half-second later, irritation coating the two words as he closed the distance between them with two long, sharp strides. "The most prominent one being that I would need more than _a cup_ ," Megamind remarked, his voice a dark, looming, threatening sound despite the fact that he wasn't speaking particularly loudly.

Roxanne barely managed to hold back the shiver that threatened to scamper down her spine at the response. Instead of letting on that he could actually be a bit intimidating at times - _because if they survived this he would not need that sort of ego boost_ \- she chose to square her shoulders and shoot him an annoyed frown before snidely remarking, "Well, sorry for trying to be nice." 

The tense quiet lingered for a moment longer, Megamind's shadowy forest green eyes cutting into her in a way that made it feel like he saw right through her false face of bravado she was putting on. It took a few seconds for his steely expression to falter, a rough sigh escaping him as he took a slight step back. 

"I didn't mean to…" He cut himself off abruptly before whirling around in the opposite direction and pacing the length of their enclosure a few times, seemingly forgetting about the conversation they'd been having. 

After what felt like a minute had passed, Roxanne gave up on the idea that he was going to finish whatever he'd stopped himself from saying. It wasn't until she started towards the wall closest to her that Megamind finally stopped pacing, looking over at her as she leaned back against the wall before he offered an exhausted; "I'm admittedly a bit grumpy, and it's not your fault." 

Roxanne took a moment to herself to absorb the words. To take in the dark circles that were beginning to form under his eyes, the way his shoulders slumped and curled in on himself, the soft hints of shadow beneath his cheekbones that marked the hollows beginning to form there. 

"Grumpy or hangry?" Roxanne pressed, lifting a single eyebrow as she watched him mull over the question for a moment. 

The corner of his mouth curled in the hint of a smirk, a barely-there huff of a laugh escaping him before he offered a simple, surprisingly good-humored; "Grumpger."

As much as Roxanne wanted to roll her eyes at the combination, she found that she couldn't. Instead, she wound up letting out a small, dry chuckle at the single word. In all honesty, she was just glad to see a shadow of the man she was used to dealing with. She missed the version of Megamind that pranced around and bantered and flirted.

All too soon though, the lighthearted mood died, and the quiet, patterned pacing that Roxanne was beginning to grow terribly accustomed to resumed. 

She sank down onto the floor, grabbing the small, scratchy blanket she abandoned there before shoving it behind her back like a makeshift cushion. 

She wasn't sure how much time elapsed with nothing but the soft padding sound of Megamind's feet on the cold concrete to count its passage. It wasn't until he'd stalked the length of their enclosure four-dozen times or so that she let out a long-suffering sigh and announced, "This is horrible." 

Megamind slowed to a stop at her declaration, peering at her in silence as though he'd forgotten she was there. 

"Everything's hard, and there's nothing to do," Roxanne muttered, glaring at the light reflecting off of the far wall of their cage. 

Silence followed her words, and she'd all but accepted that she wasn't going to get a response from her cellmate before his light, dramatic, playful voice was filling the air; "Oh no, are you missing your padded kidnapping chair?" 

Roxanne smiled at the question, partially because the Megamind she knew was back for the moment, but also because she honestly did miss her kidnapping chair. 

"Dearly." She offered, earning herself a quiet chuckle before silence engulfed the enclosure. 

"Megs," Roxanne began, immediately earning herself a look that had her stopping before she could continue; thankfully, he didn't look upset, but at the same time, he didn't look particularly happy. "Can I call you that?" Roxanne questioned, and when a few seconds passed with no response, she pressed, "Megs?"

"If you wish." He answered stoically, both his expression and tone unreadable in a way that made her wonder if this was just a Megamind being wary of letting someone a little too close, or if this was a side effect of hunger. 

Either way, it wasn't like she had anything else to do but talk to him, so she supposed she'd just have to deal with her vampire cellmate's prickly disposition. 

"Is that actually your name?" Roxanne questioned curiously, ignoring the tense atmosphere in the room. "Megamind can't be your real name." She remarked, watching as his expression grew more and more suspicious with every word. 

"I have a few names," Megamind offered with a shrug before he immediately continued, "My professional moniker. The one the Warden gave me. The one my parents gave me." He paused for a second, staring almost blankly through the wall behind her before finishing. "Any one is as good as the other." 

Roxanne sighed at his response, letting her head flop back against the wall of their enclosure before she listlessly asked, "Why are you always so closed off?"

His response was immediate, an affronted; "I beg your pardon?"

"So many walls!" Roxanne groaned, righting her head as she met his eyes before immediately adding an exasperated, "Eight years later, and I've barely even chipped the first layer." The statement didn't receive an answer, and as the seconds ticked by, Roxanne found herself continuing; "We're both locked in a cage facing our deaths. I think you could open up a bit." 

Megamind narrowed his eyes at the statement, scrutinizing her for a long moment before he finally spoke up, his voice quiet; "The warden named me Lee." Megamind swallowed as soon as the words left his lips, drawing in a long breath before he added, "Lee Simmons." 

Roxanne perked up at the admission, partially grateful for the fact that she was finally getting somewhere with him and partially mulling over the simple question of why the Warden would choose to give his own last name to Megamind.

"Lee," Roxanne murmured, trying to correlate the name to the man standing in front of her, though really, Lee just didn't seem to fit him. "Why did the Warden name you?"

Another beat of silence filled the air before her response came, "He raised me. He needed something to put on my papers." 

Roxanne nodded at his explanation, silently rejoicing over the fact that she was finally, _finally_ , starting to fill in Megamind's backstory. Other than a nearly two-decade-old news clipping titled _Hometown Boy Makes Bad_ , there was essentially nothing credible to be found until eight years ago when he made his official debut as a supervillain. 

"Your parents?" Roxanne questioned, watching as he visibly stiffened at the words. 

"Called me Cer," Megamind supplied, the words stilted.

Roxanne balked at his answer for a second. Really, who in their right mind named their baby _Sir_? Though, now that she thought about it, it made so much more sense that Minion called him that all the time, especially considering the close relationship they had. 

She shook the thought from her head before clarifying, "No, I meant where were they if Warden Simmons raised you?" 

The silence that permeated the room as soon as her words died was engulfing, and the way Megamind froze nearly could have tricked her into believing that he was carved out of stone if she didn't know any better. 

The seconds seemed to linger as Megamind stared at the cement with a faraway look in his eyes. It wasn't until she shifted, the sound of her pants catching on the concrete, that he seemed to pull himself together. 

"Dead." He whispered, the single word thick with a sea of unspoken emotion. He swallowed as soon as it faded, clearing his throat slightly before reiterating, "They're dead." 

"I'm so sorry," Roxanne murmured, the harsh, twisting feeling in her chest making it harder than it should have been to breathe. 

Megamind quickly looked over at her at the words, an expression that screamed of confusion and something that almost looked like insult clouding his features as he stared her down. The seconds began to tick by with no further response, and Roxanne cleared her throat as she quickly made a mental note that the family topic was clearly off-limits.

Well, it wasn't as though she was at a lack of other questions. 

"So, the vampire rumors were true…" Roxanne began as she shifted, stretching her legs out in front of herself. "In that case, is it the _'he's an Eldritch terror'_ rumors, or the _'he's a cryptid monster'_ rumors, or the _'he's an alien and he dyes his skin blue because it's really green'_ rumors that are the true ones?" She finished, and Megamind burst into a fit of laughter the moment she finished.

She had to admit it was far more relieving than she expected to hear him really laugh.

It took a bit for Megamind to get a hold of himself, his laughter dying down to softer chuckles before dying out completely as he drew in a long breath. "Do people really think I dye my skin blue?" He questioned, a grin still pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Let me just lay in a vat of blue dye and marinate for a while." He remarked, his body shaking slightly as he chuckled under his breath. "Aliens can't be naturally blue?" He questioned, one half of his mouth pulled up into that lopsided smile that always made her breath catch for a second. 

"You're an alien." Roxanne breathed, smiling at the fact that the rumor she'd always sided with was the correct one _(though she had to admit, the cryptid rumor had always been a close runner up)_. "Why were you sent to Earth?" She questioned, her own personal theories, and even more rumors quickly popped up in her mind. 

_World domination._

_Researching other species to find potential allies (or potential slaves)._

_A species that was trying to 'seed' other planets with intelligent life._

"It was the nearest inhabitable planet." Megamind's answer was simple, to the point, and it did nothing to credit or demerit any of her hypotheses. 

"Are they coming back for you soon?" Roxanne pressed, and when his eyebrows crinkled together in confusion, she pressed, "Your people?"

Megamind's expression darkened at the two simple words, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed, the sound loud against the silence. "They're _all_ dead." He stated, his voice hard and calloused. His next statement was softer, a quiet, almost exhausted sounding; "I'm the last one." 

Roxanne's breath caught in her throat at the admission. 

_The last._ Of his entire species.

Christ, that was… a lot to process. 

"I'm so sorry." She offered, fully aware of the fact that the sentiment probably meant nothing to him. What was a simple sorry in the face of being the last remnant of your entire species? She knew the answer; it was absolutely fucking nothing. 

"Why?" The question was more of a demand than anything, a harsh, low rumble of a word that was clearly angry. She stopped breathing for a moment at the sudden, unexpected animosity dripping from the word, her mind chanting over and over; _angry hungry vampire, angry hungry vampire_. 

_Angry._

_Hungry._

_Vampire._

"Why are you sorry?" He demanded fiercely, his eyes lit up that same way they always did when she mocked him. And _oh god, oh no_.

He thought that she was being insincere. 

And as fucked up as that was on its own, the fact that she had just goaded a _hungry vampire_ added a whole other layer of fuckery to the situation.

"Because…" Roxanne breathed shakily, drawing in a long breath in an attempt to steel her nerves as she silently prayed that he realized that she was sincere about this. "They were people… like you." She explained as she gestured to him with an open hand.

He let out a derisive scoff at the words, shaking his head as he bit out a rough, self-deprecating, "I'm not _a person_." 

Roxanne felt something inside of her heat up at that, and before she could think any better of it, she found herself heatedly retorting; "Well, you're not a monster either."

Megamind went statue-still at her words, the muscle in his jaw ticking as he ground his teeth together for a moment and his dark green eyes bored into her. 

"Miss Ritchi-"

"You're not." She cut off the dark utterance of her name before he could start off on whatever warped explanation he was almost certainly going to launch into to prove to her that he was indeed a monster. She'd seen plenty of monsters during her time as an investigative reporter, and he wasn't one of them. 

"They deserved better, and I…" 

_I'm so sorry you've spent your whole life without them._

" _You_ deserve better." She stated, trying to make herself sound authoritative and entirely failing when her voice broke over the words. She swallowed down the emotion threatening to clog her throat, drawing in a breath before continuing, "And I'm sorry that they're dead… and I…" 

She trailed off as he straightened a bit, his head tilting slightly to the side the way it always did when he was trying to decode something she did that he didn't quite understand. 

"I'm sorry you've had to live without them." She offered softly, staring into his dark eyes before they finally flicked down to the ground and then over to the corner of their enclosure. Heavy silence permeating the air as he seemed to mull over her words. 

She just hoped that she'd managed to get past that thick skull of his. 

<^^>\------<^^>\------<^^>

_'You deserve better.'_

_Oh, Roxanne, if you only knew._

_I don't deserve better. I deserve so, so much worse._

But the way she said it, with so much conviction, for a moment she very nearly made him believe it himself. But she didn't know him the way he knew himself. Hell, she hadn't even known that he was a vampire until a few hours ago. It wasn't like she was working with all the facts here. 

"Were they all like you?" The question was a small, curious thing, and he found himself looking over at her only to find her wide, doe-like blue eyes staring up at him.

"Blue and bald?" He joked, lifting an eyebrow as he managed a shell of a smile. At least, it had been a shell of a smile until she huffed out a breath of a laugh, cracked that annoyed little half-smile that always made his stomach churn, and really, it was impossible not to genuinely smile when she did that. However, that smile quickly died when she rolled her eyes while simultaneously letting her head loll back against the epoxy, exposing the long graceful slope of her neck. 

The sudden flow of saliva and venom at the sight was entirely expected at this point. He was far too hungry for it to be anything other than an automatic biological reaction. What bothered him were the entirely unwanted thoughts that accompanied it, thoughts like the fact that an all too thin layer of soft, creamy skin was the only thing separating him from -

_Stop. Stop. STOP._

He clenched his eyes shut as he tried to force the image and the accompanying thoughts away.

"Vampires." Roxanne's exasperated yet good-natured voice responded a moment later, and he forced himself to open his eyes back up. Thankful for the fact that her head was no longer tilted back at that terribly inviting angle. 

"As far as I know." He managed, as he did his best to think back to those few days he'd had with his family, which also proved to be a wonderful distraction from his current predicament. 

"My social circle back then was relatively small. My parents and my grandparents I think… I assume at least." He explained. He could clearly remember his parents' faces, his mother's bright green eyes and square jawline, his father's sharp features and warm golden amber eyes. His assumed grandparents looked similar enough, the same sparking eye color and bone structure as his mother. "But, yes. I was born a vampire, and I believe the rest of my family was as well." He finished, crossing his arms over his chest as he allowed himself to lean back against the epoxy wall behind him.

"So it's not contagious?" Roxanne asked, her eyes burning with curiosity as she quickly and needlessly clarified, "Like, if you bite someone, they don't become a vampire?" 

Megamind swallowed at the question, or rather at the memories it immediately conjured up. "I've only ever bitten one person who survived, and he is very much still human." He answered, immediately noticing the way the set of Roxanne's shoulders stiffened at his words, the slight uptick in the steady tempo her heart was beating out. He let the silence linger for a moment, staring her down as he waited for the obvious signs of discomfort to fade. When they didn't, he quickly decided to face the situation headfirst. "I'm amazed that you haven't asked the question yet."

"What question?" The two words were subdued, and he could tell from the glint in her eye that she already knew exactly what question he was referring to. 

Well, he'd never cowered away from a challenge, and he wasn't going to start now. 

"The inevitable, _'where do your meals come from'_ question." He elaborated, watching as Roxanne's eyes dipped down to the concrete below at his words. 

"Honestly." She paused, drawing in a long breath before letting it out as a sigh. Her next words were so soft that he doubted he'd be able to hear them if it wasn't for his vastly superior senses. "I'm kinda scared to ask."

Megamind couldn't help but let out a bark of incredulous laughter at the words, ignoring the way she flinched slightly at the sound as he pushed himself off of the wall and stepped closer. He made a conscious decision not to crowd her, mainly for his own benefit. She always smelled far too delicious for her own good, but he could also pretend that it was to keep from making her uncomfortable. 

He sat down on the floor in front of her, crossing his legs and settling into his new spot before dubiously questioning her; " _You? Scared?_ ". He'd been kidnapping her for eight years now, and he knew for a fact that Roxanne Ritchi was absolutely one of the bravest humans he'd ever crossed paths with. It was one of the many things he admired about her. 

She blushed at the query, her eyes quickly flitting down to the floor as her teeth sunk into her plush lower lip. He swallowed at the sight, quickly shaking away the thought that if anyone (Roxanne herself included) was going to bite her, then it was going to be him, goddamnit. 

_Not now._ He chided himself sternly. Those thoughts were trouble enough when he was well-fed, let alone in the state he was currently in. 

"Who are you, and what did you do with my Roxanne?" He demanded playfully, doing his best to distract himself while simultaneously attempting to pull her out of whatever rut she'd clearly begun to fall into. 

Her eyes flicked up to meet his, that familiar heat flashing in them that he could always read when she decided it was time to be challenging. She swallowed and drew in a quick breath before quietly muttering, "Okay. Alright."

Megamind liked to think that he knew her well enough by now to know that she was talking herself into simply ripping the band-aid off and getting it over with. And a few seconds later, his suspicions were confirmed. 

"Megamind." Roxanne began, and he couldn't help the little thrill that went through him at the sound of his name rolling from her tongue. "Where do you get your blood from?" She questioned, her nosy reporter voice so firmly locked into place that the only reason he could tell that she was nervous at all was because of the way she was twisting her fingers together. 

For a moment, he considered having mercy on her and simply answering the question, but where was the fun in that?

Besides, he was well aware of the fact that he would very likely be dead two hundred hours from now; and really, he doubted he'd be able to go peacefully without checking _'Make Roxanne Ritchi Scream'_ off his bucket list. 

He gave her his best _'I have a dark secret'_ look, silently (and somewhat guiltily) relishing in the way she paled slightly. "Hmm… for the time being…" He murmured softly, looking down at the concrete floor they were sitting on for a long moment for no other reason than to draw out the suspense. Then, without warning, he lunged towards her, arms outstretched as he loudly growled, "You!" 

Roxanne shrieked at him and scrambled away immediately, hands and feet scurrying across the concrete in a flurry of movement as she managed to bolt to her feet unsteadily at the same time that she launched the blanket she'd been using as a pillow at him. He broke into a fit of maniacal laughter just before said blanket smacked him squarely in the face. 

Well, it hadn't been a scream, but it had certainly been close, and if need be, he supposed he could count it. 

"You jerk!" Roxanne's scalding, breathless rebuke came a moment later, and it only made him laugh harder. "You absolute ass!" She shouted a moment later, her voice ringing against the epoxy walls loud enough to make his ears ring. He lifted a hand and pulled the blanket off of his head, letting it pool on the floor beside him as he looked up at her only to find fury written across her face. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" She scolded, and even the murderous look she was shooting him wasn't enough to dampen his good mood. 

He rolled his eyes at her words, still smiling as he shook his head and offered a simple, "Your heart sounds fine to me." Sure, it was much faster and a bit louder than normal, but he certainly hadn't heard it stutter at all. 

It wasn't until Roxanne stiffened at the causal statement that he realized how that must have sounded to a human. "You can actually hear…" She trailed off, the anger on her face fading into shock as she shook her head before muttering a soft; "God, that's unnerving." 

Megamind swallowed at the statement, doing his best to ignore the twinge that accompanied it. "I've learned to tune it out over the years." He offered lamely a moment later, righting himself and turning away from her as he walked back to his spot nestled against the epoxy wall.

It wasn't until he'd settled back against it and crossed his arms over his chest that Roxanne spoke up; "You never answered the question, you know." 

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, I get my blood from R and J Ranch." Megamind answered, his voice subdued. Roxanne immediately perked up at the admission, curiosity burning in her eyes as he added, "They have a slaughterhouse twenty miles south of Metrocity."

"Animal blood works for you?" The question was curious, her eyes bright as she watched him with interest. 

" _Mammal_ blood works for me." He clarified, "That's really the only thing that matters." He swallowed as soon as he finished speaking, the topic of conversation at hand doing nothing to help keep his mind off of the hunger gnawing at his stomach and the dry burn tickling his throat every time he drew in a breath. 

Roxanne hummed softly at the answer, nodding as she visibly braced herself for something that she apparently thought was coming, lifting a single eyebrow before pressing; "What about the other one percent?" 

Megamind tensed at the question, and as much as he wished that she hadn't asked, he knew that it wouldn't be fair to her not to answer, especially considering their current predicament. 

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." He offered solemnly, doing his best to ignore the heavy, sick feeling that curdled in his stomach when she paled slightly at the response. "Things usually don't end particularly well for crime lords who refuse to heed their Overlord's wishes." He added, silently hoping that she'd realized that he hadn't been referring to her. He could never -

He shook the thought away before it could complete itself. Watching as Roxanne glowered at the floor, something tense and troubled pulling at her features as she wrung her fingers together. "That bothers you." He stated, pulling her unsettled gaze back up to meet his eyes.

"A little bit, yeah." Roxanne's voice was stressed, the syllables shorter than they would normally be. 

Megamind swallowed at her response, forcing himself not to read too deeply into the way the cold, hard feeling in his stomach curdled further at her words. "I'm the Overlord of the city's criminal underbelly. You must have…" He trailed off, swallowing thickly before trying once again; "I mean, didn't you put two and two together?"

A puzzled expression flitted across her face at the question, and before he could think better of it, he was stammering out a rushed; "I always figured that you pieced together that I… that I'm a murderer." He glanced away as soon as he finished, shame and guilt coiling inside of him at the admittance.

It took him a moment to muster up the courage to look back over at Roxanne, and he wasn't sure if her blank, inscrutable expression was a good thing or a bad thing. He drew in a breath before managing the only defense he was capable of, and really, it wasn't a defense at all.

" _I tried_ to tell you that I'm _a monster_." 

His words faded, and only lingering silence followed. He wasn't sure if time felt like it was dragging on because of the anticipation of what Roxanne's next move would be, or if it was simply taking her a while to actually decide what that move should be. 

"Do you have to kill them once you start?" The question was soft, almost tentative, and it immediately drew his gaze back over to her. She swallowed as their eyes met, lamely adding, "I mean… one guy lived so…" 

"That's… complicated." He answered, the guilt and shame condensing into something more potent. Why couldn't he be normal? He'd never asked to be a bloodthirsty monster abandoned on an alien planet. He never wanted any of this. And he'd certainly never wanted Roxanne to know that the version of him that she was asking about existed in the first place.

"It's… difficult to stop with fresh blood. Obviously, it tastes better than anything that's been sitting in the fridge for a week; and there's an… instinctual aspect to it too. You know, don't stop until you're full." He explained, his voice low. He paused for a moment, drawing in a breath and steeling himself in for the simple truth that was just about to come. "I've never bothered to try and stop with… anyone really." 

Unfortunately, Roxanne's expression remained undecipherable.

If for no other reason than to crack the mask she'd donned, Megamind found himself adding, "The man who survived was just large. The larger you are, the more blood you have. I couldn't have drained him if I tried." 

Infuriatingly, the dark, candid statement did nothing to pull a visible response from her. Even her heart rate didn't falter. Rather, it continued it's faster than normal rhythm with an annoying steadiness.

After a lingering moment, Roxanne swallowed and nodded to herself, walking the length of the cage a few times before she finally came to a stop and turned to face him. "Have you ever tried to bite Wayne?"

For a moment, the change of topic threw him, but the look on her face made it evident that she was trying to steer the vampire conversation away from the people he'd killed - or very nearly killed - in the past. Part of him wanted to scold her for shying away from the hard truths here, but another part of him, the part that inevitably won out, didn't want her to see him as more of a monster than she surely was already.

"When we were children." His answer was simple, and she gave him a curious look that spurred him on, "I broke a tooth and haven't tried to bite him since." 

"Is it still broken? Like, do you only have one set of teeth?" 

Megamind couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth at the question. "I have as many sets of teeth as I need. It's just a bit painful when they grow back in." 

She nodded to herself at the answer, silence descending upon the two of them again as she clearly tried to come up with her next question. 

"Okay, one last question about the whole vampire thing." She started, staring him down for a moment with that calculating expression she always wore when she was piecing together how one of his inventions worked. "If your planet was covered in vampires, how did they live? Where did they get their meals from?"

Of course, she had to ask _that_ question.

"I don't really know." 

Roxanne gave him an unimpressed look at his answer before incredulously pressing, "You don't know?"

"I was eight days old when I was sent away." Megamind defended, pausing for a moment before adding, "When everyone died." He paused as the words faded around them, clearing his throat and drawing in a quick breath before continuing, "I didn't exactly have the mental capacity I do now. I have no idea if we were even the dominant species on our planet. All I know is that my parents made sure I was fed." 

Roxanne nodded at the explanation, something that almost looked like pity etched onto her face. "That's fair enough, I guess." She murmured, walking back over to the wall directly across from him before leaning back against it and sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. "So, Lee."

Megamind groaned at the words, letting his head fall back against the epoxy as he stared at the blinding fluorescents suspended above the ceiling of their enclosure. "Oh, God. Don't tell me that's the name that stuck with you." 

"You don't like it?" Roxanne inquired, tilting her head to the side as a small smile played at the corners of her mouth.

"It's just… very plain." He sighed as he let himself sink down onto the hard concrete, folding his legs underneath himself.

The tiny smile grew into a knowing smirk at his words, and a half-second later she amended his name. "Megs." She paused for a moment, letting the single syllable of his newly appointed nickname fade into silence before asking, "Is Minion looking for you?" 

"I'm sure he is." He nodded as he spoke, letting out a quick, soft sigh before continuing, "And the brainbots all have a foxhound protocol. All of them except the Queen's Guard, but, given the circumstances, they're definitely searching too. Or possibly, they're dead." 

Actually, it was far more likely that they were dead. Or rather, simply damaged beyond the point of operation, it wasn't a particularly easy feat to actually damage the titanium-crystalline domes that housed the biological cores that kept them alive. 

"Minion's dead?" Roxanne demanded a half-second later, her voice shocked, and if he didn't know any better, bordering on hysteric. 

"No, no." He quickly soothed, lifting a placating hand as he clarified, "The Queen's Guard is likely dead." 

Roxanne calmed slightly at that, though her puzzled expression didn't fade as she asked, "What makes you say that?"

"The fact that you're here." Megamind answered immediately, "They should have stopped anyone from touching you, or died trying."

Roxanne fell silent as the words faded, her eyes narrowing as she stared almost blankly down at the concrete for a moment. "Oh, God… She muttered quietly, and after a few seconds passed, it was followed by another, slightly louder," "Oh God."

Her eyes flicked up to meet his as she murmured a soft, "It's you." 

"What's me?" Megamind questioned, lifting an eyebrow as he stared back at her and silently wondered if he should start checking her for signs of stroke. 

"A few months ago, two guys broke into my apartment while I was at work, and when I came home they were tied up on my kitchen floor begging me not to tell you what happened." She explained, and it suddenly clicked into place. Roxanne hadn't noticed her little cyborg sentinels were there until he just gave it away. He was almost certain that the break-in incident the bots had notified him of had given it away.

"The Queen's Guard…" Roxanne trailed off, shaking her head before simply stating, "I'm the Queen." 

He swallowed at her words, nodding once before she pressed, "Why?"

"Why what?" 

"Why do I have brainbot bodyguards?" Roxanne demanded, lifting a hand and running it through her short hair before letting it flop back down into her lap. "Why are they called the Queen's Guard?" She questioned, her eyebrows knitting together as she added, "That… that running Evil Queen joke we have?"

The question felt like a punch to the stomach, and he knew for a fact that there was no good answer, considering their current situation, but there certainly were several options to pick from.

_Because I love you._

_Because I love you so much that sometimes the little fact that I can never have you causes me physical pain._

_Because if anything ever happened to you, I would light this city on fire and drown it in its own blood._

_Because sometimes I worry that despite how much I love you, I'll still inevitably hurt you, and I can't be certain that you're safe unless I make sure there are safeguards in place that also keep you safe from me._

Rather than actually saying any of that, he settled for a simple, resigned, "You already know the answer, Miss Ritchi." She shook her head at his words, her mouth falling open as she started to protest, but he cut her off before she could really begin. "You may not realize it yet, but you do know." 

She snapped her mouth shut at that, her expression a mixture of betrayal and annoyance as she let out a huff of breath before loudly complaining, "Ugh! More walls!" 

Megamind couldn't help but laugh at the outcry, the sound fading as the enclosure sank into silence. 

That silence lingered for nearly a minute before Roxanne's stomach growled loudly, the sound nearly echoing in the enclosed space. "I'm so hungry." The moaned complaint was quiet as she wrapped her arms around her legs and curled in on herself. 

Megamind swallowed at the statement before offering a tense, "Same." 

Roxanne froze at the word, her eyes taking him in for a moment as she asked, "Do you have any ideas yet?"

Megamind sighed, lifting a hand and rapping his knuckles gently against the epoxy wall at his back. "Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to break through this stuff." He let his hand fall back down into his lap before he amended, "Not right now at least…" 

If he was well fed, particularly if he was well fed with human blood, then he probably could break them out, because as much as he hated the negative side effects human blood had on him, it did come with a few select benefits.

He cleared his throat in a futile attempt to help quell the dry burn lingering against the back of it before adding, "If they'd left me with literally any of my gear I could figure something out." 

"But you do have a plan?" Roxanne pressed, unfolding from herself slightly. 

"Of course I do." 

"Oh, thank God." She sighed, relief evident in the suddenly relaxed slant of her shoulders.

"I'm going to starve to death." Megamind stated plainly, "That's the plan." 

"What!?" Roxanne's startled voice echoed against the walls of their enclosure, and he couldn't help but wince at the pitch.

" _They_ don't want to hurt you. They want _me_ to hurt you." Megamind murmured, icy dread pooling in his stomach at the thought of Roxanne lying cold, and pale, and dead because of him. He'd rather push himself to starvation a hundred times over than face that reality. "There are definitely worse ways to go than starving." He attempted to downplay the situation, though he knew it wasn't going to work. Sure, starvation wasn't the worst way to go, but it wasn't as though it was anyone's ideal death. 

"Jesus Christ, Megs." Roxanne muttered, fully unfolding from herself as she scolded, "That's not a solution."

"Oh, come on," Megamind groaned, letting his head fall back against the epoxy as he derisively muttered, "Like having me gone wouldn't make your life a thousand times easier." 

"Well, it would certainly make it a thousand times more depressing." She retorted, the frown on her face evident in the tone of her voice. 

"Save the pity lies until I'm delirious enough to believe them." Megamind bit back as he rolled his eyes at her.

"It's not a lie, you idiot!" Roxanne ground out, and he looked over at her as she continued, "You're just so convinced that everyone hates you."

"Everyone does hate me."

Really, could she not see that?

"I don't!"

Megamind scoffed at the defense as he looked back over at her. "You, of all people, have the most reasons to hate me." After all of the times he'd kidnapped her, after all of the death threats and inconveniences, how could she not hate him?

"And yet I don't." Roxanne's voice was tense, and oddly enough, her heart rate didn't speed up at all with the words, and that meant...

"You're not lying…" He murmured, perking up slightly at the realization. That was… unexpected but not unwelcome. Certainly not unwelcome. 

"What would be the point in lying?" Roxanne's voice was tired as she spoke, but it took on a new determination as she continued, "And we have to figure something out because you're not allowed to die on me."

"I don't think I have much of a choice."

He'd already looked at their available options, and the only one he could live with was his own death. There was literally nothing in their enclosure that he could use to break them out, which meant that if they didn't get very lucky with a rescue party, this would only end one of two ways. 

"Wayne, Minion, and the brainbots will find us eventually." Roxanne stated, and for a moment, it almost seemed as if she could read his mind. "If you would just have some snacks to tide you over, then we would be fine." She added, her voice darkening with every word as she held out one of her arms in a way that showcased her wrist; the bright fluorescent lights shining down on the thin, nearly translucent skin covering her wrist and the delicate webbing of blue veins lying just beneath. 

The dry burn in the back of his throat raged into an inferno at both the spoken and unspoken offer as another wave of venom and saliva flooded his mouth. Dear evil gods, did she have any idea what she was doing to him? He was already having a hard enough time telling himself no when she wasn't essentially offering herself up on a silver platter, and it was getting harder to convince himself to continue saying no with each new offer. 

_If she's offering, then what's the harm?_

The dark question was immediately followed with the recurring, nightmarish, and all too realistic image of Roxanne lying on the ground, her skin ghostly white as blood pooled on the concrete around her. 

He shook the image away as he choked out, "Miss Ritchi…" He paused for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut before managing a strained, "I've already said no."

"Why!?"

"Where do you want me to begin?" Megamind answered with a question of his own, swallowing down the venom that was still flooding his mouth before launching into an explanation that he'd hoped he wouldn't have to touch. 

"Once I _start_ , I might not be able to _stop_. I'm _hungry_ , and the amount of blood I'd need to sate myself would _kill you_." He paused, watching to make sure that his words were sinking in, and judging by the look on her face, they certainly were. "And Evil Gods, you smell _amazing_ , and you would taste _even better_ , and I _wouldn't want to stop_." He continued, watching as she paled further with every word.

 _Good._ It was about time that she recognized the fact that she was trapped with a fucking monster. 

"And I mean, I know human culture romanticizes vampires, but who really thinks that being bitten doesn't hurt?" He demanded, scoffing and shaking his head before adding, "I assure you. It does hurt. It hurts _a lot_." He only paused long enough to draw in a much-needed breath before going on. "And that's beside the point that I'm _venomous_!" A bitter laugh followed the statement as he threw his hands up in the air, and honestly, it looked as though Roxanne was starting to get a little sick.

"I don't even know _what it does_ , besides the fact that it's a paralytic, but I assume it's _incredibly painful_ because the man who survived me biting him has never been able to look me in the eye since then." He explained, his voice dark as the words rolled out like a tidal wave, the dam cracking and tumbling down as it all spilled out.

"And I'm not me when I'm running on human blood. I'm different." He ground out, the wave stemming slightly as he managed to get a loose hold of himself. "It makes me run hot, in a very territorial, get this man into anger management classes yesterday, sort of way." 

The silence that followed his lengthy explanation was a weighty, suffocating thing that settled over their enclosure like the water from the flooded dam swooping down into a valley.

"There will be _no snacks_ , Miss Ritchi." Megamind's stern voice broke the quiet, shattering the quiet with ease as Roxanne finally let out a shaky breath, her racing pulse a thundering sound to his ears.

"I didn't realize…" She began, and he cut her off by lifting a hand.

"I know." He muttered, nothing but defeat tainting the words now that the flood of frustration had freed itself. "Please, just drop it."

At least a few minutes passed in silence after that, only the sound of Roxanne's shaky breathing as it slowly settled and the pounding of her pulse as it found a slower rhythm filling the room.

"Do you think they'll find us in time?" The soft, simple question lingered in the air far longer than it should have, and as much as he wanted to tell her yes, that he had no doubt they would be saved, he simply couldn't.

All he had was doubt. 

"Honestly?" Megamind murmured, his voice soft. "I have no idea."


End file.
